This school club changed my life!
As a fresh middle school graduate excited to experience high school for the first time, I was determined to join new clubs and make friends. High school was my chance to start afresh— a chance to forget the old me and all the regrets I held to improve and become the ideal model student. I told myself this every year but I was sure this year was different. I already had a clear career path for myself and all I had to do was follow it ….. or so I thought.
Throughout my middle school journey I was unsure of a lot of things but the one thing I was certain of was what I wanted to do when I was older. I wanted to be a pharmacist and I held that with pride knowing that unlike everyone else, I had a clear future. I would always beam with joy when adults asked me what I wanted to be when I was older knowing they would be surprised by my unexpected answer.
But why was I so fixed on becoming a pharmacist? Well, I have many relatives that are in the medical industry and are very successful. My parents as well as grandparents had highly recommended pharmaceutical which was within the medical industry and held stable income. As a kid, I went along with it and had no objections to which were valid. I was more concerned with choosing an occupation that I could say I would get into than the job itself. I had no particular interest in medicine nor passion for the job.
Finally being able to enroll in high school, I was super excited to be able to feel like I was a new student again and start anew. I would join all the clubs, make new friends and ace my studies.
However, as the school year went on I had barely joined any clubs and was starting to worry. Later on, my friends had convinced me to attend a DECA orientation meeting with them. I knew nothing about DECA and was surprised when the cafeteria was FILLED with students from every grade. I had later learned that DECA was a business competition and a chance for students to experience business oriented jobs before college.
I was reluctant to join but joined anyway since I wasn’t in any other clubs. I had even persuaded my friend to join as well to be my partner. Later that week I had official joined DECA and was in the team marketing division getting ready to compete for regional!
To be honest, I didn’t take DECA that seriously at first and didn’t really know the meaning of marketing for the first two weeks. My class division was filled with so many returning students that I was doubtful I’d even pass the regional testing. My motivation came from doing my best for my partner and my competitiveness to always be the best.
There was 1 month before regional and I started to take interest in our weekly classes and even did some studying on my free time. I was looking forward to Wednesdays and became more enthusiastic then burdened. At the end, all the handwork payed off when my partner and I passed regional and were moving onto provincials!
Regional was an eye opening experience where we has to dress formally and were actually presenting improv case studies to judges. Somehow, I felt the same pride I felt when I told adults I wanted to be a pharmacist when while walking around in a blazer holding a clipboard. The case study was fairly simple and I found it natural for myself to come up with solutions and draw diagrams. My favorite part however was presenting to judges, I felt like a real business women using marketing terminology and showing off my diagrams. This was a different pride from before to where I had my knowledge and experience to back me up.
My DECA experience revealed the passion I had for business that I’d never knew I had. Along with many skills, I had also learned more about myself and the importance of having to love what you do as an occupation. Without my friends I would've never joined DECA and would have maybe pursued being a pharmacist with no real passion for the job.
For those wondering, I hadn’t passed provincials to be able to move on but I will never forget my experience there. It was a two day overnight trip at a hotel which was filled with student competitors and judges. Although we didn’t pass I’m super excited to be able to compete next year and become more knowledgeable on a subject I enjoy.
